St. Louis D-Rake Pan

February 1, 2011

0Points

Article and Photos by: Chris Callen

This bike was originally a Limpnickie Lot project that ended up in Paul from Bare Knuckle’s lap. The way it started was with a Panhead that the Broken Spoke’s Jay Allen gave us to build a give-a- way bike with. We kicked around the idea of what to build and Paul decided to take the lead. He would build a frame that was reflective of the infamous St. Louis D-rake design his area is synonymous with. Pretty basic, at twenty- eight degrees and five inches of stretch, this geometry makes for a killer ride in the bends. It is a design that you see so many cats from the Midwest sporting that we had to include it in this issue about The Scene. It may have started with the guys who rode with the El Forasteros, a now nearly fifty- year-old club, but one thing’s for sure; it’s an undeniable part of their region.

A lot of the other cats from the lot kicked in parts for this project as well. Warren Jr. provided the spool hub and laced up the wheel, Nash threw in a set of bars, a sticky throttle and some risers, Led Sleds made the fender, Duane Ballard did the seat and Jay at Tech Cycles made sure we had a proper belt drive but the rest of the bike would pretty much be up to Bare Knuckle. To keep within the lines of the St. Louis D, Paul took and old Sporty tank, cut it in half, made it skinny and sexy, and welded it back together adding in a Nash fuel cap. The whole deal was to do it like they do back home so he kept it basic by using take-off parts when he could: a wheel from his old man’s bike; a narrow Sporty frontend someone had laying around; sections of pipe he would fab into an exhaust system; some hard work, and there ya go. Well, not quite. Paul was still pretty far from a complete bike so he went into his own stash and pulled out the four speed tranny, Deth Star oil tank, plate mount taillight, some controls, grips and hand fabbed the sissy bar.

For optimum stopping power, Fab Kevin came in with the rear brake set-up and seat mounting goodies.

The bike was starting to have a pretty good list of products and after the sheet metal was sent off to Darren from Liquid Illusions, the plan was made for all of us to meet in Sturgis and work on it together. We rolled it into the shop at the Broken Spoke and went to it. The paint was outrageous with red diamonds, and a rear fender that proudly brandished the name of the lot across it.

At one point there were a dozen or more of us working on that damn bike and we even had the advice of Sugar Bear from time to time to keep us on track. Of course, with the best laid plans of mice and men, we spent some hard time in the shop trying to get it finished but it just didn’t happen. The hulk of the bike went back to Paul’s shop, lucky bastard, and Grimey would throw in some shop time to help him get it fired up and tuned in. It was finally finished for this photo shoot that went down at this year’s BMR.

In the end, it was a bike that any of us would have been proud of but Paul is the one who made it happen. And to his credit, he did it like they do it back home; a true reflection of the St. Louis style and the D-rakes these cats rip around on. We would eventually give the bike away as it was originally intended but there wasn’t a one of us that was happy to give it up. Hell, I’d take it back in a heartbeat!

st.louis d-rake tech sheet

owner: Limpnickie Lot

city: Everywhere, USA Fabrication By: BKC and The Lot Year: 1960

Model: FLH

time: 1/4 of a Decade

Value: $10 Raffle Ticket

Engine Year: 1960 Model: FLH Pan Builder: HD ignition: Points

displacement: 74 ci

Pistons: HD heads: HD cam(s): Stock carb: Bendix

air cleaner: Swap Meet exhaust: Bare Knuckle Primary: Tech Cycles

Transmission Year: 1972 Make: HD shifting: Foot

Frame Year: 2008